Reliance halts Russian oil intake at export refinery in line with EU sanctions

Reliance Industries Ltd has said it has halted the use of Russian crude at its exportonly refinery in Jamnagar Gujarat as the company moves to comply with European Union sanctionsReliance is Indias largest buyer of Russian oil which it processes and turns into fuel such as petrol and diesel at its giant oil refining complex at JamnagarThe complex is made up of two refineries one SEZ unit from which fuels are exported to the European Union the US and other markets and an older unit that caters to the domestic marketThe European Union a big market for Reliance has imposed wideranging sanctions targeting Russias energy revenues including measures that restrict the import and sale of fuels produced from Russian crude oilTo comply with these Reliance has stopped processing Russian crude oil at its onlyforexports SEZ refineryWe have stopped importing Russian crude oil into our SEZ refinery with effect from November 20 a company spokesperson said in a statement on ThursdayAs is the case with any large industrial factory the refinery must have past raw material crude oil inventories which it is currently processing and turning into fuelsOnce the old inventory runs out newer products will only be made from nonRussian oilFrom December 1 all product exports from the SEZ refinery will be obtained from nonRussian crude oil the firm saidThe transition has been completed ahead of schedule to ensure full compliance with productimport restrictions coming into force in January 2026Last month when the US sanctioned Russias largest oil exporters Rosneft and Lukoil the firm had stated that it would meet all applicable restrictions and would adjust its refinery operations to meet compliance requirementsWe have noted the recent restrictions announced by the European Union the United Kingdom and the United States on crude oil imports from Russia and export of refined products to Europe Reliance is currently assessing the implications including the new compliance requirements Reliance had said on October 24Reliance which operates the worlds largest singlesite oil refining complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat purchased about half of the 1718 million barrels per day of discounted Russian crude shipped to IndiaThe company refines the crude into petrol diesel and aviation turbine fuel ATF a large share of which is exported to regions such as Europe and the United States at market prices generating strong marginsAll this may change after US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Open Joint Stock Company Rosneft Oil Company Rosneft and Lukoil OAO Lukoil Russias two largest oil companies that he accuses of helping fund the Kremlins war machine in UkraineAdditionally the European Union has barred the import of fuel made from Russian crude starting January 2026We will comply with the EUs guidelines on the import of refined products into Europe Reliance had saidOn Thursday the firm said the crude oil import in SEZ is a fully segregated facility catering to the production line in SEZAll precommitted liftings of Russian crude oil as of October 22 2025 are being honoured considering all transport arrangements were already in placeThe final such cargo was loaded on November 12 Any Russian cargoes arriving on or after November 20 will be received and processed at our refinery in the domestic tariff area DTA it saidAll operational activities ordinarily incident to such oil supply transactions can be completed we believe in a compliant wayReliance which has signed a 25year deal to buy up to 500000 barrels of crude oil per day 25 million tonnes in a year with Rosneft has been cutting Russian imports since the US sanctionsThe company has huge business interests in the US and cannot risk attracting scrutinyReliance which bought an estimated USD 35 billion worth of Russian oil since the start of the Ukraine war in February 2022 started recalibration of its imports soon after the European Union adopted its 18th package of sanctions against Moscow in late July this yearRecalibration is nothing but moving the import requirement to a different region And this may get expedited now industry sources saidTransactions involving the two sanctioned Russian firms need to be wound down by November 21Russia currently supplies nearly a third of Indias crude imports averaging around 17 million barrels per day mbd in 2025 of which approximately 12 mbd came directly from Rosneft and LukoilMost of these volumes were bought by private refiners Reliance Industries Ltd and Nayara Energy with smaller allocations to stateowned refinersThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever